Mary Costello had fiery red hair, which swirled around her freckled face in a way that would have delighted Titian, but which her pupils in District 27 found only surpassingly funny. She unburdened herself one night to her mother, who was just a generation more Irish than herself. “That Thad Burrows thinks he’s so funny,” she stormed. “Today he said to me, ‘Say, Miss Costello, do you wear a hat in winter?’ and I said of course I did, and why shouldn’t I? And he said he should think it would have to be lined with asbestos. Then they all bellowed, and if he ever mentions it again I’ll lambast him for it,” and Mary’s eyes snapped with indignation. “There now, Mary, don’t be after letting a fool kid upset ye so,” her wise old mother advised. “That Thad Burrows is a bright boy, and if it was someone else’s thatch he said it about ye’d be laughing with him altogether. I’ll bet that if you’ll win the heart of him, he’ll lick anyone that dares to think of a white horse when you’re around.” Mary pondered this advise and took it. She showed no resentment toward Thaddeus, but rather sought ways of being especially kind to him. She discovered that he was eager to earn money, and helped him find work in town on Saturdays; she lent him books and deferred to his opinion in matters of stove-tending and mouse-catching. He came to connect his leadership with the teacher, who found so many little ways of giving him the prominence his soul craved. The red hair ceased to be a joke, and by the term’s end the prophecy of Mary’s mother had come to pass. ILLUSTRATION 2 (SIXTH GRADE) Raymond Smith had just taken up boxing. He was accustomed to hang around a gang of street idlers and would-be sports and when any of the number ventured to put on the gloves he was fully alive to every move they made. Not having funds to purchase a pair of gloves he began pummelling smaller boys, getting some little skill in certain movements imitated from his larger associates. There was a great deal of bluff and bluster in his actions and not a small amount of teasing. [Sidenote: Shaking Fist] Ellen Moore, teacher, knew boy nature fairly well. She was strict in conduct but rarely was caught firing her guns at a mere decoy. Raymond broke over bounds in a harmless fashion in that as she was passing his desk one afternoon, he doubled up his fist and shoved it in her direction—an excellent opportunity for rigid discipline. But this is what happened: “My, what a large, solid fist you have,” she said in a quiet voice, quickly moving on to her next duty. The hand fell. The boy had no clear motive and yet was in a mood where belligerency would be easily aroused and deeply relished. No reference was again made to this incident by either, although Miss Moore took occasion in a few other matters to draw the lines closely on Raymond that he might clearly sense the limitations that school life laid upon him. CASE 90 (THIRD AND FOURTH GRADES) [Sidenote: Toy Mouse]